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CALENDAR

September 20 , 2008

PSR-LA Ambassador Program - Health Professionals and Nuclear Policy

When: Saturday, September 20, 2008 - 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Where: University of Southern California, Room SOS B40 (Center for International Studies Seminar Room in the basement of Social Sciences building) next to the VonKleinSchmid Center. Parking is $8.00 parking in PSX is at Figueroa Street and USC McCarthy Way. See Map.

PSR-LA is looking for health care professionals who want to deepen their knowledge about nuclear security and disarmament and what we can do to build a safer future. The PSR-LA
Ambassador Program will create a cadre of informed and dedicated health professionals in Los Angeles who can speak to the community, the media, and elected officials about nuclear security issues from our unique and influential perspective.

The first of a two-part training program will be held on Saturday, September 20, and will provide information about current nuclear security issues and what can be done about them. The session will cover the fundamentals of US and world nuclear capabilities and related security issues including accidental war and the global proliferation of nuclear materials, technology, weapons, and expertise.

By the end of the session, workshop participants will obtain a strong fundamental understanding of the complexities of a broad menu of vital nuclear security issues. A team of policy and academic experts will provide overview presentations on arms control agreements and organizations, as well as specific nuclear issues in Iran and the Middle East, North Korea, and India/Pakistan.

A second session will be held on Saturday October 18 that will focus on how to affect change within political and governmental power structure. The session will provide participants with an inside view of how Congress works and ways in which legislation and other actions can move the country toward a safer future.

Dr. Wayne Glass, a professor at the School of International Relations at USC and a veteran of 17 years on the Hill, will provide detailed "how to" guidance on effective lobbying. Participants will have an opportunity to put their new skills into practice so that they are fully prepared PSR-LA Ambassadors who can advocate for a safer, healthier world.

Please contact Denise Duffield at (213) 689-9170 for more information. Click here to download flyer.

We Need You to Become a PSR-LA Ambassador!

The next administration will face many challenges and opportunities regarding the nation's nuclear weapons policies. There are some 27,000 nuclear weapons in the world, approximately 4,000 of which are on hair trigger alert. The threat of a nuclear catastrophe has not gone away.

Steps are urgently needed to reduce the danger of nuclear war or nuclear accidents under the next administration. In addition, the international nonproliferation regime controlling the spread of nuclear materials, weapons, and technology is teetering on the brink of collapse. The existence of nuclear weapons among states such as India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel seriously challenges the international community to reverse further proliferation to other nations, including especially Iran.

Looming behind nuclear programs in those nations is the possibility that extremists might obtain nuclear materials or a weapon to threaten or destroy in a terrorist moment beyond imagination. The next administration and Congress will have to face these dramatic security challenges.

Nuclear weapons continue to threaten the destruction of human lives and our planet. Now is the time to get PSR-LA’s message across to our community in Los Angeles and to the nation's leaders!

You CAN make a difference! Sign up to become a PSR Ambassador now! Please contact Denise Duffield at (213) 689-9170 for more information.

This training is free to PSR-LA members.

September 23 , 2008

Greg Towsend - "Bringing War Criminals to Justice"

When: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 6:30 p.m.

SEMINAR LOCATION AND RESERVATIONS: The seminar location is the UCLA Faculty Center. Dinner will be served at a cost of $25 per person without dessert OR $30 with dessert. THE DEADLINE FOR RESERVATIONS IS 11:00 AM September 22, 2008. PLEASE BRING YOUR CHECK PAYABLE TO "MICHAEL INTRILIGATOR, your UCLA host.

Please submit your reservation and your choice of dessert/no dessert by e-mail to bennettramberg@aol.com. (Parking is available at Structure 2, near the Faculty Center, at the corner of Hilgard and Westholme. NOTE entry to the parking lot 2 has changed. Should you have questions, please ask attendant at the parking kiosk. Parking fee is $8.)

SEMINAR SPEAKER: After serving as a Public Defender in Los Angeles, Greg Towsend joined the UN Rwanda Tribunal (ICTR) in 1998, in Arusha, Tanzania. He was the first person to work for all three organs of the court: the Chambers; Registry, and; Prosecution.From 2003-2005, he was one of ten international prosecutors in the UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, and prosecuted cases from terrorism to organized crime, and wonall 24 trials he paraticipated in. From 2005-2007, he returned to the ICTR to complete the trials of Priest Seromba (who had his church bulldozed) and Colonel Bagosora (the allged mastermind behind the Genocide) and three other Rwandan Army high-ranking officers. From 2007-2008, he transferred to the UN Yugoslav Tribunal (ICTY) in The Hague, and prepared the trial against Stanisic and Simatovic, twoleadersof the Serbian State Security Service, whocovertly ran the wars in Croatia and Bosnia for President Milosevic. In June 2008, when the trial against Stanisic was suspendend indefinitely due to the defendant's poor health, Greg joined the Special Court for Sierra Leone, as Head of Office and Senior Legal Officer, across townin The Hague,which is trying former Liberian President Charles Taylor in one of the two courtrooms of International Criminal Court.

October 12, 2008

"Nuclear Traps - The New President, New Solutions" with Dr. Helen Caldicott

When: Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 2 p.m.

Where: First Congregational Church of Long Beach, 241 Cedar Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90802 - www.FirstChurchLB.org

Dr. Helen Caldicott will present "Nuclear Traps - The New President, New Solutions." Dr. Caldicott has devoted the last 35 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction. She is the co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the author of seven books and the recipient of nineteen honorary degrees.

The First Congregational Church is located in downtown Long Beach, just two blocks west of Pine Square at Third Street and Cedar Avenue. Free parking is available in our lot at the corner of Third and Chestnut.

October 13, 2008

Book Signing, Discussion, Call to Action
With authors Philip and Alice Shabecoff,
Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children

When: Monday, October 13, 2008 at 6:30 p.m.

Where: Pasadena, CA. More details to follow. RSVP to Ana at 213-689-9170, amascarenas@psrla.org.

In Poisoned Profits: the Toxic Assault on Our Children, journalists Alice Shabecoff and Philip Shabecoff directly and definitively link industrial toxins to the current rise in childhood disease and death. The book was researched and written under the sponsorship of PSR-LA’s sister chapter, Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility (GBPSR).

Discussion of the evening will include how climate change will impact children's nvironmental health, the corporatization of scientific/environmental health research, and how to move the market and hold government accountable.

Specific policy advocacy opportunities regarding climate change, chemical policy reform, and pesticides will also be presented.

About the Authors

Philip Shabecoff was the chief environmental correspondent for The New York Times for 14 of the 32 years he worked there as a reporter. After leaving the Times, he founded and published Greenwire, an online daily digest of environmental news. For his environmental writing, Shabecoff was selected as one of the “Global 500” by the United Nations’ Environmental Program. He received the James Madison Award from the American Library Association for leadership in expanding the public’s right to know.

Alice Shabecoff is a freelance journalist focusing on family and consumer topics. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and the International Herald Tribune, among other publications. She was executive director of the National Consumers League, the country’s oldest consumer organization, and executive director of the national nonprofit Community Information Exchange. Her previous books include A Guide to Careers in Community Development.

www.poisonedprofits.com

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